La importancia de vivir es la obra de referencia en Occidente para conocer, desde una perspectiva moderna, la ancestral y rica cultura oriental. Asuntos como el sentido del ocio, la felicidad, la naturaleza, el viaje, la cultura o la religión son abordados por Lin Yutang con una amena combinación de conocimiento teórico y experiencia personal que lo convierten en un magnífico manual de sabiduría concreta que nos ayuda a conocernos a nosotros mismos y nuestras posibilidades. A partir a menudo de anécdotas en las que todos podemos reconocernos o de actitudes y comportamientos que no nos son ajenos, Lin Yutang invita a dedicarles una mirada crítica y a verlas con nuevos ojos. ( )

Outstanding Eastern wisdom from a Chinese who knows the West. ( )

The Importance of Living is a number of essays about the importance of enjoying life and ways to do so. In some ways, the author's ideas are kind of silly, but they are presented in such a non-pushy way that they the unpleasant ideas are easy to forget. However, his attitudes towards women are infuriating. At one point the author talks about how it is best for people to be natural... and women require lipstick to be natural. At another point, he makes this statement

Is it merely because woman is more charming and more graceful in a chiffon dress than in a business jacket, or is it merely my imagination? The gist of the matter seems to lie in the fact that women at home are like fish in water. Clothe women in business jackets and men will regard them as coworkers with the right to criticize, but let them float about in georgette or chiffon one out of the seven office hours in the day and men will give up any idea of competing with them, and will merely sit back and wonder and gasp.

This book may have been first published in 1937, but I still find the attitude towards women in this book excessively condescending.

Still, the general message of the book was nice, although not particularly noteworthy or inspiring. I agree that it is good to take things easily and to notice the world around us and appreciate nature and each other. It is good to make sure one's truths are consistent with human nature as well as with logic. ( )

I first read this book in 1962 and it has been the cornerstone of my philosophy ever since. The essence of the philosophy can be summed up in a quote at the beginning of the book, "Only those who take leisurely what the people of the world are busy about can be busy about what the people of the world take leisurely." It also warns about the dangers of too much concern with wealth, fame and accomplishment. ( )

> Babelio : https://www.babelio.com/livres/Lin-LImportance-de-vivre/48209
> BAnQ (Lectures, janv. 1953) : https://collections.banq.qc.ca/ark:/52327/2632345

> On peut se souvenir de ces paroles de Confucius que ses disciples, depuis la dynastie des Sung, décidèrent de faire apprendre aux enfants des écoles (1) :
« Lorsqu’on a acquis la connaissance des choses,
alors la compréhension est atteinte, alors la volonté est
sincère ; quand la volonté est sincère, alors le cœur est
droit. Quand le cœur est droit, alors la vie personnelle
est développée ; quand la vie personnelle est dévelop-
pée, alors la vie familiale est réglée ; quand la vie
familiale est réglée, alors la vie nationale est en ordre ;
et quand la vie nationale est en ordre, alors le monde
est en paix. De l’empereur au dernier des hommes, le
développement de la vie personnelle est le fondement
de tout. Il n’y a jamais eu un arbre dont le tronc fut
mince et les branches épaisses et fortes. Il y a une cause
et une succession dans les choses, un commencement
et une fin dans les affaires humaines. Connaître l’ordre
de préséance, c’est avoir le commencement de la sagesse. »
(1) Lin Yutang, L’Importance de vivre, Éditions Corréa ;
cité dans: Jeanne Guesné, Cité dans: Le septième sens : Le corps spirituel, Le Relié (2007), p. 118